Auction Simplified, a provider of online vehicle auctioning systems, has announced a new feature: high-definition multi-lane simulcast, which it says is designed for independent auctions and franchised dealer groups already holding traditional lane sale auctions.
“Up until now we focused on helping dealers start their own auction. With the addition of lane manager in March and now, HD Simulcast, we can help traditional lane auctions reach a higher standard,” Kevin Leigh, company vice president and co-founder, said during an announcement.
HD-simulcast allows buyers a clear view of vehicles in the lane. They can zoom in and see a level of detail the company said is not possible with most simulcast systems.
"We spent months perfecting the next generation simulcast, practically eliminating delays,” Leigh said. “But the most important feature is that it does not require the bidders to download complicated software. It truly is simulcast simplified.”
"With the addition of live auction and HD-simulcast software, we believe Auction Simplified can now provide every type of auto auction to our customers: Lane Sale, Simulcast, Proxy Bid, Open Bid, Silent Bid, Make an Offer, Overnight Appraisal, Broadcast Appraisal and Buy-Me-Now," said Phil Gates, chief technology officer and co-founder.
AuctionVcommerce has launched its Clerk Training Simulator, the company said Monday.
This follows close to a year of product development for the tool, which is designed to foster consistency in the industry for online clerking and boost online participation and sales.
The Clerk Training Simulator also aims to curb clerk turnover and block errors.
“Expectations for clerks are extremely low. If trained properly, clerks have the potential to be to the online customers what auctioneers are to those who physically attend the sale,” AuctionVcommerce president and co-founder Kelly Bianchi said in a news release. “We intend to prove that.”
That started with Britt Dehn of Lone Star Auto Auction, who was the first clerk to be certified in this program. To get her take on the training, Bianchi interviewed Dehn via FaceTime.
“It was important that we deliver honesty. The interview had to be unscripted, and unedited, because ‘trust’ is the foundation for everything we are looking to accomplish,” Bianchi said in the news release.
Bianchi also talked with Auto Remarketing this past fall at Used Car Week about the program. That interview can be seen in the video screen above.
AuctionVcommerce said Bianchi is currently working with a few auctions to roll out the Clerk Training Simulator.
“Skepticism for anything related to online is high in this industry. There is a common response of being unresponsive … waiting for everyone else to be the first. We started with the goal of building confidence in dealers wishing to purchase vehicles online. What we’ve found is that we first need to build that confidence into the auctions,” she said.
You’re a publicly traded company that owns the second-largest auto auction chain in the country.
Your portfolio also includes a suite of dealer- and auction-based technology and digital offerings that certainly enhance the brick-and-mortar experience or could be considered an alternative to it.
So, what do you do?
You make acquisitions and investments in both.
Push the physical auction growth through moves like the ADESA business unit building a location in the nation’s third-largest metropolitan area (ADESA Chicago is set to open this fall) or its purchase of the Sanford Auto Dealer Exchange.
Push the digital and technology growth with the launch of Data Science Solutions Group or ramping up the U.S. rollout of TradeRev.
That’s been part of the strategy at KAR Auction Services, which has been just as busy buying or opening physical auctions recently as it has investing on the digital and technology side.
That includes everything from acquiring a stake in TradeRev — an online provider of dealer-to-dealer auctions — to perhaps its crown jewel investment on the brick-and-mortar side: buying all eight Brasher’s Auto Auctions.
At the NADA Convention & Expo, Auto Remarketing caught up with Peter Kelly, president of the KAR Digital Services Group and KAR’s chief technology officer.
He spoke highly of the Brasher’s purchase, saying the auctions have “stood the test of time.”
KAR also recognizes that online buying “is becoming more and more important,” he said, so a brick-and-mortar purchase like the Brasher’s one gives KAR the opportunity to leverage physical auction opportunities into online opportunities, as well.
This is part of a “two-pronged strategy” at KAR.
“Acquire great physical assets, but leverage that into an online world, as well,” Kelly said.
That begs the question: how does one KAR property keep from cannibalizing the other?
Keith Crerar, recently named executive vice president for TradeRev in the United States, offered some perspective on this from TradeRev’s vantage point. Crerar’s background with KAR also includes roles with ADESA.
“And that’s the big question,” Crerar said of the cannibalization point. “How do we work together? What are the synergies between the two?
“ADESA’s a dominant player in the dealer space. We consign and sell a large volume of cars for dealers across the U.S.,” he added.
“There’s a large volume of dealers that we don’t do business with. So I think my strategy looks like this: when the science tells us to go to a specific city, we look at that city and say, ‘Ok, what major dealer groups in this city do we have a small market share that we do business with?’ And then we go do the auction, we say ‘Look, tell us the background on why this dealer group is doing business at one of the competitors or with a wholesaler or a bid-sheet sale versus using your in-lane services.”
Crerar said that since he began in his current position, he has had auction general managers approach him about using TradeRev as “a way in the door” to some of the “mid-major” 10- to 15-store dealership groups that work with TradeRev and are helmed by younger people.
“And they’re interested in technology, and we’ve never had an offering like this,” Crerar said, referring to TradeRev’s new “end-to-end” solution.
So, in a very real sense, ADESA and TradeRev can work together.
“KAR has never had an offering that goes this far into a retail transaction, ever … At the moment when the customer is test-driving the new car, we can step in and help. We can be a value-add to the used-car manager, the GM and the owner, all at once,” Crerar said.
“We launch a live appraisal auction, and if we can’t fetch the money in that 60-minute cycle, we relaunch the car later that day,” he added.
If the deal can’t be done or generate the money the used-car manager wants, the car goes to ADESA DealerBlock, then ADESA LiveBlock.
“So, you’ve got three real technology-oriented options for us to fit in great with the dealer, all the way up to the time that customer test drives the vehicle,” he adds.
Crerar later added this point, which sheds more light on how a physical auction company and a tech company work together in a mutually beneficial fashion.
“We really want to highlight the ADESA technology to complement the TradeRev technology.”
Mark O’Neil, the newly minted chief operating officer of Cox Automotive, is staying put in Virginia, he tells Auto Remarketing during an on-site interview at the NADA Convention & Expo this past weekend.
He has no plans to move to Atlanta, where Cox Automotive and its parent (Cox Enterprises) are headquartered.
That’s no slight on the city; by all accounts, the company certainly plays an active role in the city’s economy and community.
It’s just a new way of thinking at a company, and within an automotive industry, that’s increasingly global.
While much of Cox Automotive’s leadership certainly still resides in Georgia’s capital, many of its top-line executives are situated throughout the country.
If you think about O’Neil’s direct reports, some are located in Atlanta, yes. But many others are based in places like Carmel, Ind.; Austin, Texas; and Burlington, Vt.
And just as those cities represent various corners and alcoves on the U.S. map, much of Cox Automotive’s business model resembles a cross-section of the retail and wholesale auto industry at large.
Auctions, classifieds listings, vehicle research/pricing guide, inventory management, websites, software, transportation, and so on.
These services, along with senior leadership located throughout the country, reflect Cox Automotive's rapid acquisition expansion in recent years that culminated in perhaps the crown jewel of all the purchases: Dealertrack Technologies, where O’Neil had been chief executive officer.
But it also reflects a changing mindset towards senior leadership and Atlanta: they're “connected, not relocated,” as O’Neil put it.
“I’ve had long discussions with the senior leadership of Cox Enterprises about the importance of building a global company; that if we are going to be a global company, we cannot be Atlanta-centric. Because the world does not revolve around Atlanta,” he said.
Cox Automotive is introducing a new approach, one that will be a “multi-year effort,” where the line of thinking is, “it’s important to be connected to Atlanta; it’s not necessarily important to live in Atlanta,” O’Neil said.
“It’s not necessarily important to think about your job being there, whether it’s my job or (chief product officer Rick Gibbs’) new job,” he said.
“You can be almost anywhere in today’s environment. But wherever you are, you must be connected to all of those who you work with,” O’Neil said. “And that can be a virtual connection; it doesn’t have to be physical.
“And the ideal is probably a hybrid, right? We’re going to do so many meetings a year in person; we’re going to do so many events in person; and we’re going to do so many virtually,” he said.
“And, oh by the way, in between, we’re all going to be at clients and be distributed around doing other things, where we’ll also connect,” O’Neil said. “So, connected, not relocated. It’s also much more efficient for the company.”
Editor's Note: This is the first in a series of stories about Cox Automotive's leadership stemming from Auto Remarketing's interviews with O'Neil and Cox Automotive president Sandy Schwartz at the NADA Convention.
TradeRev has jumped into the D.C. market.
The company, which offers dealers a vehicle appraisal and auctioning system, is entering the greater Washington area through its partnership with Chantilly, Va.-based Pohanka Automotive Group.
All 17 of the D.C.-area Pohanka store will utilize TradeRev to remarket wholesale cars and use the platform to boost efficiency and overall sales volume. These stores will also be able to utilize various remarketing and financing services through ADESA and AFC.
(ADESA and AFC are KAR Auction Services subsidiaries. ADESA has a 50-percent stake in TradeRev)
“Our new partnership with Pohanka Automotive Group, one of the oldest, most well-respected and forward-thinking dealership groups in the United States, provides a tremendous opportunity to change the automotive remarketing game in the greater D.C. area,” TradeRev chief executive officer Mark Endras said in a news release. “We are excited to work together with their team to not only enhance their sales and operations, but also to introduce the amazing possibilities technology like TradeRev offers.”
Pohanka president Scott Crabtree said: “The Pohanka Automotive Group has always believed in identifying strategies to operate faster, better, more effectively and more efficiently, which improves customer service and saves our customers time and money. Choosing TradeRev significantly enhances that commitment.
“With TradeRev’s most recent product upgrade and host of new features, we look forward to using TradeRev to generate more sales and quickly move inventory without having to leave our dealership locations," Crabtree went on to say.
DRIVIN, a sourcing service that utilizes data from outlets such as Black Book to help find, acquire and deliver the right used vehicles to a dealer’s lot, announced the nationwide launch of DRIVIN Insights on Monday, pitching the possibility of dealers being able to use it for free.
The company explained DRIVIN Insights as a “first-of-its-kind” dealer tool that can turn 100 million data points into “actionable stories” for a dealer's lot and local market. Those “stories are based on:
— Consumer shopping trends
— Local market supply and demand
— Optimal inventory levels
— Unique dealer behavior.
“DRIVIN Insights provides powerful, valuable, relevant metrics and analysis about a dealer's lot, local market and competition to help them make better decisions about their inventory and pricing strategies to achieve a more optimal lot,” said Mahi Inampudi, the company’s vice president of product and technology.
“DRIVIN can then complete the process for dealer partners by finding and delivering the right vehicles directly to their dealership. We become an extension of their buying team,” Inampudi continued.
As recently announced in a previous report from Auto Remarketing, Black Book powers the vehicle valuation service available within the tool. DRIVIN Insights in now available to dealer partners without a subscription fee.
The company noted, however, there are a limited number of memberships available per market, and the tool is available on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Dealers interested in DRIVIN Insights can request access on a per market basis on the DRIVIN website.
"DRIVIN is truly disrupting the industry by helping dealers rethink their inventory strategy on the used-car side," said Mitch Golub, DRIVIN board member and investor who led Cars.com for several years.
“Insights further demonstrates that focus by helping dealers select vehicles for their lot based on consumer demand, local market analysis and profit margins. This is not a one-size-fits-all market tool, but a personalized resource for dealers, combined with DRIVIN's high-touch service model,” Golub added.
DRIVIN is an exhibitor at this week’s NADA Convention & Expo in Las Vegas. Insights, as well as their new DRIVIN Mobile app, will be available at booth No. 2276C.
TradeRev, a provider of a mobile vehicle appraisal and auctioning system for dealers, has launched an all-new version of its system and introduced TradeRev Pro.
TradeRev president and co-founder Mark Endras said in Monday’s announcement: “The TradeRev team is always striving to achieve the next big thing in dealer-to-dealer technology. We constantly explore new technologies and listen closely to our dealers, which enables us to evolve and fine-tune our systems to accomplish maximum accuracy, efficiency and transparency.
“The new TradeRev and the introduction of TradeRev Pro are the culmination of this approach that is driven by our team’s obsession with persistently finding better ways to achieve measurable and meaningful results.”
The company said that the “foundation” of the new system is TradeRev Pro.
Once a customer updates the TradeRev app on their device, he or she will be upgraded to TradeRev Pro. This will be free until May 31.
This will allow the customer access to new features such as the following, as listed by the company in its news release:
- Advanced research
- Analytics on every running vehicle
- Vehicle Smart Lists
- Customizable virtual lanes
- Funds Guaranteed within 72 business hours of transaction completion once title/ownership is received and liens are cleared
- In-app post-auction negotiation function
- Unlimited no charge private trading networks
Beyond having TradeRev Pro, the new TradeRev offers a new design as well as new features and upgrades to improve the experience for dealers. Additionally, there will be a Spanish-language option, in addition to English and French.
“Everything we do, we do to support and strengthen our valued North American dealer network,” said Endras. “Our dealers’ feedback is the driving force behind every new or enhanced feature, and we are confident this version will help them continue to unlock new opportunities and optimize results.”
Editor's Note: Stay tuned for a more in-depth look at the new TradeRev system from Auto Remarketing's recent interview with Endras.
Auction Edge has rebranded the auction management system it acquired from Auto Auction Solutions in the fourth quarter of 2015. The new name of Automated Auto Auction System will be EDGE AuctionOS.
Since buying what’s now known as EDGE AuctionOS, Auction Edge has brought in six additional auctions that are now EDGE Pipeline, EDGE Simulcast and EDGE Lookout customers, as well. There are now 86 auctions using those products, the company said.
“EDGE AuctionOS has been well received in the market and provides a wonderful option for auction owners looking for an alternative operating system for their auctions,” Auction Edge president Scott Finkle said .
The company emphasized in its news release that the goal is not to replace the EDGE ASI auction management system. Rather, the company plans to “enhance EDGE AuctionOS so it can handle the requirements of a diverse set of customers,” it said.
Auction Edge executive vice president Dan Diedrich said: “There are many auctions that are committed to the IBM Power System (formally known as AS/400) platform and for those auctions, Auction Edge is committed to the continued development of the EDGE ASI product. EDGE AuctionOS is an alternative for those auctions looking for a PC-based platform.”
EDGE ASI is used by 103 auctions. The company said a grand total of 189 auctions in the U.S. and Canada use auction management services from Auction Edge.
Whann Technology Group said this week it is broadening its work with ARI, giving independent auctions the opportunity to sell all ARI off-lease units.
Whann Tech said in a news release that Airport Auto Auction in Alcoa, Tenn., is rolling out the Airport Auto Auction Marketplace. This tool will feature, as a pilot, off-lease vehicles from ARI.
“We have always enjoyed a great working relationship with ARI and are especially proud to be able to provide technology via the Global Marketplace that plays a role in them being able to pilot a program that expands their remarketing relationship within the independent auto auction space,” said Peter Levy, vice president of business development at Whann Tech, said in the news release. “We invite independent auto auctions to stop by and see us at the WTG booth at the CAR Conference.”
Digital marketing company LotLinx announced Tuesday it has expanded its “deep-linking” technology to Facebook, aiming to lead low-funnel car shoppers on the social media site to their local dealers’ vehicle detail pages.
According to LotLinx, its technology uses proprietary shopper data from LotLinx sites, a dealer’s own site, and Facebook-provided Polk data to build a customer audience for each dealer.
The company says that after testing the tool for a year their results show that this type of targeting, paired with LotLinx’ VIN-specific ads, can be more than five times as efficient as Facebook targeting alone.
“It’s LotLinx’ mission to scour the online universe for low-funnel, high-quality car shoppers and send them directly to dealer’ websites,” said Denise Chudy, chief executive officer at LotLinx. “We’re now expanding our technology on to the Facebook platform to help our dealer customers maximize their opportunity to connect with VINtenders in their market.”
For more information about LotLinx, visit its site here.
